Abbott, Emma Page 1 of 1

Abbott, Emma
(b Chicago, 9 Dec 1850; d Salt Lake City, 5 Jan 1891). American soprano and
impresario. She studied first with her father and by the age of nine was
performing professionally. She joined an itinerant concert troup in 1866 and after
it disbanded went to New York to study with Achille Errani; her concert début
there was in December 1871. In 1872 she went abroad to study with Sangiovanni
in Milan and Marchesi, Wartel and Delle Sedie in Paris. Her operatic début at
Covent Garden was as Marie in La fille du régiment (2 May 1876), but her
contract was cancelled when she refused to sing Violetta on moral grounds.
Abbott secretly married Eugene Wetherell (d 1889); in 1876 they returned to the
USA, where she gave concerts. Her American operatic début was in New York
on 23 February 1877, again as Marie. In 1878 she formed an opera company that
successfully toured the USA until her sudden death, of pneumonia, in 1891.
Abbott retained artistic control over her troupe, which sometimes numbered 60;
repertory included French, Italian and English operas and operettas, all sung in
English. Many of the works were abridged; interpolated songs were
commonplace.
Abbott’s voice was a pure, clear soprano of great flexibility and volume. She was
not popular among critics but her company was very influential; Americans called
her ‘the people’s prima donna’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NAW (H.E. Johnson)
G. Greenwood: Emma Abbott (n.p., 1878?)
S.E. Martin: The Life and Professional Career of Emma Abbott (Minneapolis,
1891)
F.E. Willard and M.A. Livermore: ‘Abbott, Emma’, A Woman of the Century
(Chicago, 1893), 2
H.C. Lahee: Famous Singers of Today and Yesterday (Boston, 1898)
G. Upton: Musical Memories (Chicago, 1908)
O. Thompson: The American Singer (New York, 1937/R)
H. WILEY HITCHCOCK/KATHERINE K. PRESTON

mk:@MSITStore:D:\Bittorrent\TheNewGroveDictionaryOfMusicMusicians\The%20... 31/01/2018